Course Delivery Method#

EG–151 will employ a blended approach to delivery using the Canvas Digital Learning Platform for on-campus and self-directed online activity, with live on-campus activities each week.

Live learning activities#

See the Canvas calendar for timings of the live activities.

Lectures and Office Hours#

There will be one lecture a week on Day at Time on the architecture of the target microcontroller. This will be delivered on-campus and will be supported by on-demand after-class formative tests which aim to reinforce the knowledge gained in lectures by means of retrieval practice.

In addition, there will be an online office hour for group activities in support of the lecture course which is designed to address the areas of difficulty that have been identified by the formative tests. The timing of the office-hour is to be confirmed and will be published here and in the Canvas calendar in due course.

The resources for the lecture course are arranged by week in modules on Canvas and start at Welcome and Introduction to Data Representation.

Laboratory activities#

There will be two two-hour lab sessions per week on Day Time and Day Time. Lab sessions are compulsory, and should you need a Supplementary (resit) assessment in August you must have achieved 80% attendance to qualify for a resit attempt.

Laboratory introduction#

Laboratory sessions during the first four weeks of term (University weeks 2-5) will be used for a laboratory introduction exercise.

The laboratory introduction is COMPULSORY and must be passed before you can continue to work in the laboratory.

Components of the laboratory introduction are as follows:

  • Health and safety and safe working in the electronics laboratory

  • Breadboard construction exercise

  • Circuit simulation exercise using National Instruments Multisim

  • Soldering exercise

The maximum mark for the laboratory introduction is 15 awarded as follows:

  • Testing of circuit using plug-in breadboard and National Multisim and answers to questions at the end of the laboratory introduction script – Max. 10 marks - Assessed by Lab Diary and a Canvas quiz.

  • Construction of Tic-Tac(R) box continuity tester – Max. 5 marks.

Marking is done and feedback is given by the module coordinator and the chief electronics technician.

The course materials and guidance for the lab introduction module start at module EG-151: Laboratory Introduction on Canvas.

Microcontroller programming laboratories#

There will be two two-hour microntroller programming lab sessions per week, and these will begin once the lab introduction has been completed which will be the end of week 4 (University week 5) at the latest.

The laboratory work will be assessed by means of a lab diary worth 20% of the module marks. The lab diary is to be updated during the lab sessions and will be submitted via a TurnitIn submission point in November.

The Microcontroller laboratories are found in the Microcontrollers Laboratory module on Canvas.

Mini project#

There will be a mini project which is worth 30% of the marks and will be assessed by a demonstration of the completed project and a short report. The project is designed to be carried out using the resources of the laboratory kit, however additional components e.g. LEDs, resistors, push buttons and so on can be requested from the staff. A program will be provided as a starting point, and you will be required to add additional features as suggested in the project briefing. The mini project will be published in the Mini Projects 2023-2024 module on Canvas.

We anticipate starting the mini project at the start of week 9 (University week 10).

On-demand learning activities#

Knowledge and understanding will be increased via retrieval practice based on weekly formative tests delivered in Canvas.

Class test#

The lecture course and the laboratory work will be assessed by an online class test worth 35%. We anticipate that the class test will be held in Week 10 (University week 11) with a resit being held in Week 12 (University week 13).